Everything Economics at the University of Toronto
This annotated list of influential Black African economists is not exhaustive in nature, but intended as a starting point for further inquiry. Supplied by Marlène Koffi, the list was annotated to support the article Black Economists of Influence in honour of Black History Month, 2024.
Updates and suggestions for additions to this list can be submitted by email to communications.economics@utoronto.ca
Economics touches every aspect of society. This is no less true in February, designated as Black History Month, or more recently, as Black Heritage Month. Whichever the preferred name of the observance, Black economists, both historical and contemporary, are major figures in the discipline.
Names of thirty-two Black economists populated a non-exhaustive list of contemporary, influential Black African practitioners provided by Marlène Koffi, Assistant Professor with the Department of Economics. Accomplishments of the group include senior appointments to the Center for Global Development, the World Bank, and one served a term as a head of state. They also represent academic appointments at the world’s most prominent universities, including three at the University of Toronto.
Koffi herself joined the University of Toronto in 2020. Her research interests are broadly concerned with the Economics of Innovation and Science with a more specialized focus on equity issues that is evident in both her scholarly publications and her editorial contributions to media outlets like the Globe and Mail and the Hill Times. She also examines the application of deep learning, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence techniques to both research studies and to the creation of public policies. To that end, she is affiliated with National Bureau of Economic Research, the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, and the Forward Society (FOS) Lab. [Read more…]
It’s mid-February. The good news is that there are only as few as 4 to 6 weeks of grey and cold weather to left to endure. Some get through it by taking omega-3s and vitamin D, others by jetting off to an all inclusive resort and pretending there is nothing to do during reading week, while others spend the Family Day long weekend complaining about the weather with their closest relations. [Read more…]
Kourtney Koebel knows how to reduce the experience of poverty on Prince Edward Island. Currently, almost 10% of the population of PEI lives in poverty, but Koebel and her colleagues believe it could be less than 2%. The solution? A Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) demonstration project. The model Koebel and her colleagues are proposing would ensure that no Islanders live in deep poverty, a condition defined as having an income less than 75% of the official poverty line.
Koebel, a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Economics, Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto, is part of Coalition Canada, a cross-country network of experienced basic income advocates and experts. At the end of 2023, the group released A Proposal for a Guaranteed Basic Income Benefit in Prince Edward Island. The report presents a basic income model for a fully funded 5 to 7-year long demonstration program that, according to the report, would both reduce poverty for Islanders and be more cost-effective than previous GBI models that have been proposed or piloted. [Read more…]
Should preferred pronouns be disclosed on resumes? For non-binary people looking for a job, that decision should consider the now-quantifiable likelihood of discrimination by potential employers. Disclosing the use of nonbinary pronouns on resumes reduces positive employer response by 5.4 to 5.5 percentage points. The results come from a field experiment conducted by Taryn Eames, a PhD candidate at the Department of Economics, University of Toronto. It is the first large-scale study of its kind to examine pronoun disclosure and employer discrimination.
“Putting “they/them” pronouns on your resume will disadvantage applicants in terms of average employer response,” said Eames. “However, if it is important for applicants to work at a company that respects them and their identity, disclosing pronouns may be a useful filter to screen out discriminatory employers.”
Eames’ experiment took the form of a resume audit. She sent thousands of randomly generated fictitious resumes to job postings in pairs. The treatment resume contained pronouns listed below the name and the control resume did not. In the treatment resume, Eames tested both nonbinary “they/them” pronouns and binary “he/him” or “she/her” pronouns consistent with implied gender of the name used on the resume. Resumes disclosing the use of they/them were less likely to receive a positive employer response, such as an invitation to interview, a voice mail or an email requesting a call back, or other expressions of interest. [Read more…]